Combination dictating-transcribing machine



June 4, 1968 H. E. CROCKER COMBINATION DICTATING-TRANSCRIBING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 7, 1967 mnlm|umull||mlilmnnmulnuml I INVENTOR AGENT HARRY E. CROCKER QI I'DJIIIII June 4, 1968 H. E. CROCKER 3,386,743

COMBINATION DICTATING-TRANSCRIBING MACHINE Filed June 7, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 All 7 Fl (3. 5 INVENTOR 67, I HARRY E. CROCKER m BY AGENT 3,386,743 COMBINATION DICTATlNG-TRANSCRIBING MACHINE Harry E. Crocker, Irvington, N.J., assignor to McGraw- Edison Company, Elgin, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Filed (lune 7, 1967, Ser. No. 644,398 4 Claims. (Cl. 274-9) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to dictating-transcribing machines which have a manual record-reproduce control and a manual speed control. The invention comprises a mechanism for such machines which resets the speed automatically to an optimum value for recording as the machine is conditioned for recording and which limits the reset mechanism to allow the speed to be manually adjusted to any desired value when the machine is conditioned for transcribing. The resetting is carried out by means of a spring-biased centering mechanism comprising two spring-biased plunger's and a latch means to with hold the plungers into any off-center position into which they are moved by the manual speed control when the machine is conditioned for transcribing. When the machine is conditioned for recording the latch mechanism is released to allow the spring-biased plungers to return the speed control to the optimum setting.

The invention is an improvement over the Somers Patent No. 2,823,268, in that the speed resetting is accomplished by a manual record-reproduce control on the machine shifta-ble between record and reproduce positions. The drive speed is controlled by a variable speed drive transmission preferably of the type described in the Brown Patent No. 3,018,110.

An object of the invention is to provide a simple and economical mechanism for resetting a variable speed drive of a phonograph to an optimum value for recording each time a record-reproduce control for the machine is shifted into a record position.

Another object is to apply a restraining device to the resetting mechanism to permit the variable speed drive to be adjusted to any desired setting when the recordreproduce control is shifted to reproduce position.

These and other objects and features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.

In the description of my invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings, of which:

FIGURE 1 is a fractional plan view, largely diagrammatic, of a phonographic mechanism incorporating my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a fractional elevational view, taken on the line 22 of FIGURE 1, showing the manual recordreproduce control as well as the variable speed drive and reset mechanism of the machine;

FIGURE 3 is a fractional section on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a perspective view of the speed reset mechanism; and

FIGURE 5 is a fractional front elevational view with parts in section on the line 5-5 of FIGURE 3.

The present machine may be of the disk record type comprising a turntable having a central depending shaft 11 journaled in a bearing 12. The turntable is driven by a motor 13 having a drive pulley 14 coupled by a fiat belt 15 to a relatively large pulley 16 journaled on a shaft 17 in a bearing 18. The shaft 17 is also adapted to serve as a driving spindle for a friction wheel 19 having a floating journal 20 on one end of a control lever 21. The fricnitecl States Patent 0 Patented June 4, 1968 ice tion wheel is urged by a tension spring 22 against the rim of the turntable and against a brake shoe 23 normally to hold the turntable braked against movement. The lever 21 is pivoted at 24 and is coupled by a link 25 to the armature of a solenoid 26. The solenoid 26 is connected in a power line 27 to a cord 28 having a plug 29 adapted to make connection to a 110 volt A.C. source (not shown). The power line 27 includes a start-stop switch 30 which may be a hand and/or foot operable switch for starting and stopping the drive of the turntable, it being understood that when the switch is closed the solenoid 26 is energized to draw the friction wheel 19 between the drive spindle 17 and the turntable to start instantly the rotation of the turntable and that when the start-stop switch is released the spring 22 disengages the friction wheel from the driving spindle 17 and engages the friction wheel with the brake shoe 23.

Mounted above the left half portion of the turntable 10 is a carriage 31. The carriage is supported movably on a rearward cross rod 32 and a forward cross rod 33. The carriage 31 is of a hollow construction having two cone pivots 34 in the rearward sidewalls thereof supporting 'a recorder 35 having a depending recorder stylus 36 at its forward end. Of course, the recorder unit may be of a magnetic or any other suitable type. In the forward half portion of the carriage 31 there is a reproducer 37 having a universal pivotal connection 38 to the forward portion of the carriage to allow the reproducer unit not only to be raised and lowered from a disk record on the turntable but also to swing laterally so that its depending stylus 39 at the rearward end thereof may suitably track a groove in the disk record. Suitable means are provided for raising and lowering the recorder and reproducer in unison to permit a disk record to be removed from the turntable and another to be mounted thereon such as are described in Brown Patent No. 3,018,110.

As the turntable 10 is rotated the carriage 31 is moved progressively across the turntable by a feed screw 40 coupled by a worm gear 41 to the central shaft of the turntable. The carriage has mounted thereon a circular feed nut 42 engaging the feed screw and normally held frictionally against rotation so that the carriage is propelled during the rotation of the turntable. However, the frictional hold on the rotatable feed nut 42 yields to a manual force exerted on the carriage to allow the carriage to be shifted by hand.

Mounted in the forward portion of the machine is a record-reproduce control knob 43 having a plunger 44 mounted in a bearing 45 for vertical movement between an upper reproduce position and a lower record position. A bail 46 pivoted on a cross rod 47 embraces a grooved collar 48 on the plunger rod 44 and is coupled thereto by a pair of diametrically opposite pins 49 so that as the knob 43 is raised and lowered the bail is rocked clockwise and counterclockwise as appears in FIGURE 2. The bail is coupled to a front-to-back extending rod 50 by an arm 51 on the rod and a pin-slot connection 52 between the arm and the bail so that the rod is turned counterclockwise and clockwise respectively as the knob 43 is shifted upwardly and downwardly into reproduce and record positions. Secured to a rearward portion of the rod 50 is a lever 53 having a lift pin 54 on one arm thereof for a cross rod 55 mounted for up and down parallel movement by being secured to a U-lever 56 pivoted on a cross pin 57 on the frame of the machine. The cross rod 55 underlies an arm 58 of a selective lift mechanism generally referred to as 59 for the recorder 35 and reproducer 37. The selective lift mechanism 59 is described in detail in the aforementioned Brown patent. For the present purposes it is sufficient to say that when the control knob 43 is raised into reproduce position the selective lift mechanism operates through the bail 46, rod 50 and lift 3 rod 55 to lower the reproducer 37 onto a disk record on the turntable and to raise the recorder 35, and that when the knob 43 is pressed downwardly into record position the reproducer 37 is raised and the recorder is lowered onto the record.

A variable drive transmission between the motor 13 and the turntable it for varying the speed of rotation of the turntable comprise a crown pulley on the motor shaft hereinbefore referred to as the drive pulley 14 and a reversely inclined frustoconical channel 16a in the driven pulley 16. In such arrangement the flat belt 15 always seeks the larger diameter portion of the crown pulley to tend to drive the turntable in at a maximum speed. Below the belt 15 is a lift arm 69 extending from a hub on a cross shaft 61 pivoted in a bearing 62 extending from a hub on a cross shaft 61 pivoted in a bearing 62 above the motor. The left end of the cross shaft 61 has a depending arm 63 coupled by a back-to-front extending link 64 to a knurled speed control disk 65 pivoted on a shaft 66. The link 64 is pivoted to a lower portion of the disk 65 so that when the forward portion of the disk 65 is moved upwardly the lift arm 6% is lowered to increase the speed of drive of the turntable and when the forward portion of the disk 65 is moved downwardly the lift arm 66 is raised to lower the drive speed.

A speed reset mechanism for the machine is provided by the invention which comprises a frame bracket 67 mounted on the base of the machine and having an upstanding portion With turned-over lugs 670 at the ends.

Mounted in the rightward portion of the lugs 67a is a front-to-back extending support rod 68 on which are mounted front and back plungers 69 and 79. These plungers are counterbored at their outer ends to receive compression springs 71 and 72 between the plungers and the lugs 67a so that the plungers are biased towards each 517 other. Upstanding from the base of the bracket 67 is a finger 71 (FIGURE 3) against which the plungers bear to locate the plungers in a central position with a spacing therebetween. Secured to the link 64 is a side lug 72 a tip portion of which lies between the plungers causing the plungers normally to hold the link in a centered position establishing the drive speed of the turntable 10 at a definite or optimum value for recording.

Supported also by the lugs 67a to the left of the support rod 68 is a cross rod 73 on which is pivoted a bail 74;. The bail 74 has a rightwardly extending portion at the top overlying the spring-pressed plungers 69 and 7t] Mounted on this overhanging portion of the bail are front and back pawls 75 and 76 having downwardly extending lugs 75a and 76a at their adjacent ends engaging respective holes in the bail to form pivot points for the pawls. Threaded in the bail and traversing clearance openings in the pawls 75 and 76 are respective headed screws 77 and 78 between the heads of which and the respective pawls are compression springs 79 and 8t) biasing the pawls into downward positions against the bail. The pawls 75 and 76 have downwardly extending fingers 75b and 76b at their outer ends for engaging exterior threads provided on the plungers 69 and 70. The cross rod 73 is extended rearwardly from the bracket 67 and is coupled through a lever arm 81 and link 82 to the lever 53 on the shaft so that when the knob 43 is pressed down into record position the bail 74- stands in a counterclockwise position wherein the pawls 75 are disengaged from the spring-pressed plungers 69 and 70 leaving the plungers free to set the drive speed at the optimum value for recording. However, when the knob 43 is raised into reproduce position the bail is rocked clockwise to engage the pawls 75 and 76 with the spring-pressed plungers. By this engagement each plunger is permitted to be moved in a direction away from the other but is latched into whatever position it is so moved. Thus, when the machine is conditioned for reproducing a turning of the speed control disk in a direction to decrease the speed of drive of the turntable causes the rearward plunger to be shifted rearwardly by the bracket 72 on the link 64 moving against the forward end of the plunger and when the hand is removed from the speed control disk 65 the plunger stands latched in its moved position to allow the speed control to remain at its new setting. Similarly, when the speed control disk 65 is turned to increase the speed of drive of the turntable the bracket 72 moves against the rear end of the plunger 69 shifting it forwardly, and when the hand is removed from the speed control disk 65 the plunger 69 remains latched in position to allow the speed control again to stay at its new setting. Thus, the operator can adjust the speed to lower and higher values throughout the full range of adjustment. However, when the plunger 43 is pressed downwardly again to record position the bail 74 is rocked counterclockwise to disengage the pawls and 76 from the spring-pressed plungers 69 and 76 with the result that the plungers are snapped together against the central stop by the respective springs 71 and 72 to move the link 64 to its central position and thus return the drive speed of the turntable to its optimum value for recording.

The embodiment of my invention herein particularly shown and described is intended to be illustrative and not necessarily limitative of my invention since the same is subject to changes and modifications without departure from the scope of my invention, which I endeavor to express according to the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a dictating and transcribing machine including a rotatable support for a record, a record-cooperable record-reproduce device mounted for traveling movement, and a drive motor for rotating said rec-0rd support and concurrently imparting a traveling movement to said record-reproduce device: the combination of means for selectively conditioning said machine either for recording or reproducing dictation, a manual record-reproduce control on said machine for shifting said conditioning means between recording and reproducing conditions, a variable drive transmission between said motor and said record support, a manual speed control on said machine for changing said variable drive transmission to change the speed of said record support, spring-urged centering means for biasing said manual speed control into :1 normal setting to cause said record support to be rotated "at an optimum speed for recording dictation, and means controlled by said record-reproduce control abling and disabling said centering means respectively as said machine is conditioned for recording and reproducing whereby said record support is driven at said optimum speed during recording and the speed of rotation of said record support can be varied by said manual speed control when the machine is conditioned for reproducing.

2. The dictating and transcribing machine set forth in claim I wherein said centering means comprises two plungers each mounted for movement towards and away from each other, spring means pressing said plunge-1's towards each other, stop means defining end positions of said plungers wherein confronting faces thereof are separated by a given distance, and a member interposed between said confronting faces and coupled to said manual speed control for moving the plungers respectively from their end positions as said speed control is moved respectively to higher and lower speed settings from its normal speed setting for recording.

3. The dictating and transcribing machine set forth in claim 2 including a pair of respective pawls engageable with said plungers in a one-way action permitting movement of the respective plungers away from each other while latching the plungers in their operated positions against returning to said stop means, and a common mounting for said pawls coupled to said manual recordreproduce control for disengaging said pawls from said plungers and causing the plungers to be moved against said stop means to return the speed control to a normal setting when the machine is conditioned for recording and for engaging said pawls with said plungers as the machine is conditioned for reproducing.

4. The dictating and transcribing machine set forth in claim 3 including a mounting rod and wherein said plungers are sleeve members slidab-ly mounted on said mounting rod at opposite sides of said stop means and said spring means are helical compression springs on said rod pressing said sleeve members against opposite sides of said stop means, said sleeve members having said pawls comprising a bail extending along said sleeve members and pivoted on an axis parallel with said mounting rod, and wherein said pawls are rockably mounted on said bail and are spring-urged to engage yieldably said threaded sleeve members responsive to a rocking movement of said bail by said record-reproduce control as the latter is shifted to reproduce position.

No references cited.

exterior threads thereon and said common mounting for 10 HARRY N. HAROIAN, Primary Examiner. 

